The 29-year-old Armenian's agent Mino Raiola has been handed a three-month ban from any football activity by Fifa's disciplinary committee this week, meaning he cannot deal with any summer transfers.

Raiola, who represents the Arsenal midfielder was banned on Wednesday by the Italian Football Federation with the world governing body extending the sanctions across the globe.

The ban begins immediately and will not end until after the English summer transfer window closes - with the decision set to impact Emery and director of football Raul Sanllehi's transfer plans this summer.

Read More

The former Borussia Dortmund's agent cannot represent the player for 12 weeks meaning that plans to offload Mikhitaryan may be shelved.

The club has planned to move on the player to free up wages in a bid to land attacking talents such as Barcelona's Andre Gomes - with the Armenian's considerable salary playing a big part in that strategy.

The club had hoped by freeing up Mkhitaryan's wages, believed to be more than £175,000 a week, they could swoop for Gomes, whose move to Barcelona from Valencia was brokered by Sanllehi during his time at the Nou Camp.

Mkhitaryan, who joined the Gunners in a swap deal with Manchester United with Alex Sanchez going to Old Trafford, has not performed as consistently as his talent demands, even if he featured in Arsenal's stunning 4-2 victory over Valencia to reach the Europa League semi-final this week.

The player is also at the centre of a political row ahead of the Europa League final in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan on May 29.

Read More

Mkhitaryan did not travel to Azerbaijan for Arsenal's group stage defeat of Qarabag last year due to the lack of diplomatic relations between the two countries. With no political solution to the issue in sight Arsenal may be forced to drop the player from the squad for the showpiece final.

The Armenia captain skipped the Gunners’ 3-0 victory in Baku in early October because of the issue, which has flared once again with the capital city hosting the final.

Hostility remains between the neighbouring countries over the disputed Nagorno Karabakh region, where a ceasefire was declared in 1994 after fighting erupted several years earlier.

Those issues meant Mkhitaryan failed to play for Dortmund's Europa League fixture against Gabala four years ago with the Gunners asking for reassurances over the player’s welfare before naming him in the squad for their eagerly-awaited clash against Chelsea.